Always By Your Side
by Princess of Cranes
Summary: After years of being alone, Spike passes on, unsure of what he will find in the realm beyond death. Lonely and scared, Spike will discover that maybe he wasn't really alone after all. One-shot. Cover by Dezzoi on deviantART.


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"_Spike…spike can you hear me?" _The voice sounded close, each word tainted with fear and concern.

"I…" He tried to form a response, but his words felt dry and empty in his throat.

"_Spike please I need you to look at me! Spike I-"_

_I can't. I'm sorry… _he tried desperately to tell her, yet the words were lost on his tongue. '_Why can't I talk?'_

"_Spike…Spike please say something! We can help you; you just need to hold on. Please…just hold on!"_

_I'm sorry. _He repeated, tears streaming down his cheeks. _I can't fight any longer…_

_Spike? SPIKE!_

But he was already gone.

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For a long time he heard nothing, the voices fading away into hushed whispers before disappearing altogether. Though many times the dragon found himself straining his ears at what he thought was a far off cry, the sound would always vanish as soon as it had come. Likewise, his sight had disappeared as well, the once bright world replaced with emptiness so complete it chilled him.

_So, this is what it's like to die. _Despite everything, Spike smirked, amusement worming its way into his lost mind. So many years of living as Twilight's scribe had led him to share her belief of death, one that involved a kingdom among the clouds where ponies of past lives could look down upon those who currently inhabited the earth. In this supposed kingdom there were to be no sickness, death, or pain, nothing but an eternity of light and prosperity. While Spike openly admitted that it seemed like a rather far-fetched theory, it had painted a nice picture, one that he had unknowingly found himself clinging to ever since he first heard of it.

"_Assuming what you say is true, Twilight, would that mean once we die we would be able to reunite with others who died before us?" _He remembered a younger, more naïve version of himself pitching the question to Twilight back when they were still living in Canterlot.

"_I guess so, though it's hard to say. I mean, it goes without saying that there hasn't been a lot of successful research done on the subject, or at least, no research that has produced tangible results. Most of what we know about what happens after death is pure speculation."_

"_So…in other words you really don't know?" _he had responded slyly, hoping to get her goat.

"_Well, I guess nopony does." _She had admitted carefully, dropping the subject and returning to her practice of a complex illusion spell.

_I guess we know now. _He felt a pang of longing at the memory, his amusement fading as quickly as it had come.

_Twilight…_

Of course, Spike had known all his life that she would die before him, for dragons were rumored to live several hundred years to the mere 80 that most ponies could. But saying something and believing it were always two very different things. And while Spike had spent his entire life running from it, not even he could hide from the inevitable.

One by one he had watched his friends die... the ponies he had spent his entire life with disappearing from his world forever. AppleJack had been the first, crushed by a collapsing barn when she was too frail to withstand it. Then Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow, Rarity, and finally Twilight. He still remembered the weeks she had spent confined to her bed, too weak and heartbroken to get up. And Spike had spent every second of that time at her side, loyal and loving until the very end.

"_Spike…you don't have to do this for me you know. You've been so kind over the years… I couldn't ask any more of you."_ She had insisted, barely having enough strength to open her eyes.

"_Don't say that Twilight, you know I'm not doing this because I feel like I owe you. I'm doing this because you're my best friend, and because…because I love you." _He had been crying as he admitted it aloud, unable to bare the idea of losing his last and greatest friend.

"_Oh Spike…"_

In real time, Spike felt a tear slip down his cheek, cold and fresh in the emptiness of the world around him. "Oh Twilight…"

_Don't cry, Spike. _A sudden voice snapped him back to the present, and in a moment he felt his sadness melted away almost completely.

"Twilight?" he cried out, hope and amazement coursing through his veins. "Twilight is that you?"

_Don't worry Spike, everything will be alright._ The voice sounded close, and the security of it soothed him.

"Twi-" The dragon was cut off mid-sentence, for suddenly there was a flash of light, swallowing the darkness and nearly blinding him. Gasping, Spike felt himself falling, before he suddenly landed on something soft and warm.

"Ugh," he exclaimed, rising to his feet and brushing himself off.

Collecting himself, he gasped to find that he was completely he was surrounded by light, stretching endlessly in every direction as far as he could see. It blanketed the land like snow, snuffing out all traces of darkness and pain with a field of golden white. Immediately curious, Spike bent down to swipe at the light beneath his feet, unsurprised when he found that his claws passed right through it. However, it felt somehow warm against his tired scales, wrapping around him like the embrace of a Pegasus's wing.

"Where… am I?"He wondered dreamily, spinning around trying to take in everything all at once.

"You're home, Spike."

He gasped. _That voice. _

"Twilight!" he exclaimed, spinning around in awe to face the familiar purple mare.

"Hello Spike," she smiled warmly, her mane blowing out behind her by some unseen breeze.

Spike gaped. The frail, broken figure he had accompanied for so many nights was gone, replaced by the lively young mare he had known and loved for so many years. However, she was not the same. Her once small figure had altered, for now she seemed the same build as Princess Celestia, if only a little shorter. Her dark purple mane had also grown out significantly, so much so that it nearly reached the light meadow beneath their feet. Upon her head sat a gorgeous golden crown, adorned with a single purple jewel that Spike could easily recognize as her element of harmony. But the more shocking than all of that combined were the two feathery limbs that now sprouted from Twilight's bare back.

"You…you have _wings_!" Spike managed, unable to withhold his shock.

"Oh do I? I didn't notice," she said teasingly, batting him softly with her hoof. "But yes Spike, all ponies who enter this place are granted the wings and horn of an alicorn, regardless of what they were before."

"This…place?" Spike echoed dumbly, his mind unable to wrap itself around what it was seeing.

She nodded patiently. "I briefly told you about it back when you were merely a baby dragon. This place is beyond death, where peace and love blot out the shadows of hatred and pain and reflect upon all those who enter. Like on Earth we see both the day and the night, we see days and weeks and years pass. But here there is no sickness or death, here is eternity."

"Amazing," Spike marveled, tripping over his own feet and falling dazedly on his hind.

"Yes, it's quite nice actually, especially being able to fly from place to place rather than getting your hooves dirty on the ground," a voice added, moments before another familiar face descended from above.

"Rarity," Spike said softly, his heart skipping a beat as she landed gracefully beside Twilight.

Before she could respond, the sound of beating wings filled the sky, and several more alicorns perched beside them.

"Applejack, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rainbow! You're all here." Spike reeled, overwhelmed by the swell of emotions brought on by seeing them all again.

Twilight smiled. "We've been waiting for you Spike, watching over you after our passing."

"You were… watching me?" he echoed, picturing the ponies opening a hole in the light floor and looking out over all of Equestria.

She nodded. "One of the hardest things I ever had to do was leave you that day Spike, even though I knew you were being left in good hands as an assistant to the princess. Although at first I couldn't bare the fact that I had left you all alone, once I came here I realized that it was only a matter of time until we met again. So I watched you, saw as you grew into a fine young dragon under Celestia's hand."

"Twilight…" Spike began slowly, tears trickling down his face. However, before he could finish she pulled him into an embrace, wrapping her front hooves around him and pulling him close to her body.

"I've missed you so much."

For a moment Spike simply stood there, love and amazement slowly bubbling in his chest. However, it wasn't long until he hugged her back, throwing himself around her chest.

"I missed you too Twilight."

They stood like this for a little longer, holding each other amongst a field of golden light. After so many years of being apart, Spike forgot his heart could feel so happy, and he prayed that he would never have to let that feeling go again.

"Now come on," she pulled apart, smiling playfully. "We've got a lot of catching up to do."

Grinning, Spike spread his purple-green wings, which had finally grown in not long after his 20th birthday. Taking to the sky, he fell in formation with his friends, riding on a gentle breeze into a bright and beautiful sun.

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**A/N: My first MLP fanfic, based off of an idea I had while looking through pictures on deviantart. Sorry if Spike comes across as a little OCC, I tried to write him as a bit more grown up and witty than the innocent baby dragon he is during Friendship is Magic. **

**Anyways, please review!**


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